Inconsistency and contradiction are facts of life which increase in both stature and clarity as we grow in spiritual maturity. Stature because we are subjected according to our own increasing capacity to withstand these foes and clarity because as we increase, we see more of what has always been there.
Is it not ironic that the fool
Rejects the very thing that would deliver him
From the pain and failure he calls bliss?
Water does not always find the lowest level.
Is it not ironic that those
Who stand in need the most
Stand strongest against provision?
Water does not always find the lowest level.
And those who have less need
Have it because they have learned
The value of the provision
To minimize the need.
“To him who has
Shall more be given,
And to him who has not,
Even the little he has
Shall be taken from him.” Jesus
Lethbridge, Oct. 1984
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The Frenzy of Life
It is already a wonder that the word "leisure" still exists in our vocabulary. Its manifestation has become scarce, its original nature obscured. Leisure today is rushed toward, through, past and entirely missed. We are in a sea of drowning souls panicking, frantically grabbing for safety, pulling any and all rescuers down with them to death and hell. Only there will the hustle and bustle of this world cease even as the land of Israel finally enjoyed its sabbaths once the population was removed into foreign captivity. Go a little faster, busy man. There isn't enough time, not nearly, To do all you would like to do. There are only 70 years in a life, 24 hours in a day; A third of those waste away; Sixty minutes in an hour, Not enough seconds in a minute To accomplish, achieve, attain. Find a faster way, a better way, A short cut to get what you're after. Give less to get more; Get more by giving less. Time is money and money is time. Hear the rhythm of the stamping feet, Tempo speeding, sound increasing, Over the mind to reign. Grab here, run there. Does haste make waste Or does waste make haste? Horde your riches, busy man, Or do you know where they are? Pride is a merciless lord; The Joneses must not get ahead. Bigger and better is the code And the mode and what a load! Grab an upper to keep you going; Take a downer to slow you up. What?! A downer to slow you up? Dare I say it? Wait a minute! A downer to slow you up? ...
It is already a wonder that the word "leisure" still exists in our vocabulary. Its manifestation has become scarce, its original nature obscured. Leisure today is rushed toward, through, past and entirely missed. We are in a sea of drowning souls panicking, frantically grabbing for safety, pulling any and all rescuers down with them to death and hell. Only there will the hustle and bustle of this world cease even as the land of Israel finally enjoyed its sabbaths once the population was removed into foreign captivity. Go a little faster, busy man. There isn't enough time, not nearly, To do all you would like to do. There are only 70 years in a life, 24 hours in a day; A third of those waste away; Sixty minutes in an hour, Not enough seconds in a minute To accomplish, achieve, attain. Find a faster way, a better way, A short cut to get what you're after. Give less to get more; Get more by giving less. Time is money and money is time. Hear the rhythm of the stamping feet, Tempo speeding, sound increasing, Over the mind to reign. Grab here, run there. Does haste make waste Or does waste make haste? Horde your riches, busy man, Or do you know where they are? Pride is a merciless lord; The Joneses must not get ahead. Bigger and better is the code And the mode and what a load! Grab an upper to keep you going; Take a downer to slow you up. What?! A downer to slow you up? Dare I say it? Wait a minute! A downer to slow you up? ...
Bitterness
When you are given to see the incarnation of bitterness concentrated in your direction, I doubt that there can be a more hideous spectacle, especially when residing in one whom you have known intimately for decades and who is supposed to have the opposite, love, toward you. This comes by revelation but also by outer manifestation in the end for, all things must come to light and be dealt with, and are in the "last days." Only understanding of God can give one the encouragement to forgive, and faith to persevere. But bitterness is the lot of every believer and everyone must come to terms with it once and for all in the end. This is the "wicked one being revealed" and dealt the death blow. While it is the worst time of all, yet there is cause for those who believe to lift up their heads because redemption is near at hand. The manifestation of that mysterious man of bitterness is a token of the Lord present for it is in His coming that the son of perdition is exposed and destroyed. But destroyed how? By being redeemed, transformed, resurrected, reconciled to God through the Son of God. It is a great and terrible event. Bitterness cries, "You owe me!" And she will not rest until She gets what she wants. She'll not be persuaded otherwise Nor will a substitute do. "I disagree with You!" she cries to God. "Either You don't know what You're doing Or, You cannot do what's right. So I have to do it! I have to take control of things; I have to protect mys...
When you are given to see the incarnation of bitterness concentrated in your direction, I doubt that there can be a more hideous spectacle, especially when residing in one whom you have known intimately for decades and who is supposed to have the opposite, love, toward you. This comes by revelation but also by outer manifestation in the end for, all things must come to light and be dealt with, and are in the "last days." Only understanding of God can give one the encouragement to forgive, and faith to persevere. But bitterness is the lot of every believer and everyone must come to terms with it once and for all in the end. This is the "wicked one being revealed" and dealt the death blow. While it is the worst time of all, yet there is cause for those who believe to lift up their heads because redemption is near at hand. The manifestation of that mysterious man of bitterness is a token of the Lord present for it is in His coming that the son of perdition is exposed and destroyed. But destroyed how? By being redeemed, transformed, resurrected, reconciled to God through the Son of God. It is a great and terrible event. Bitterness cries, "You owe me!" And she will not rest until She gets what she wants. She'll not be persuaded otherwise Nor will a substitute do. "I disagree with You!" she cries to God. "Either You don't know what You're doing Or, You cannot do what's right. So I have to do it! I have to take control of things; I have to protect mys...
The Unsearchable Ways of God
Not His ways so much as Him! Yet “theologians” or “studiers of God” presume otherwise. And how ingrained it is in our very carnal natures the thought or belief that somehow we are in control to some extent of our destinies and the destinies of others. How frustrated we get at our failures and at the failures of others when we do not understand that all things, great and small, good and evil, obviously and otherwise are indeed in His hands, that He rules over all. How unforgiving we can be toward others for the evil the Lord has sent our way by them for our good, and toward ourselves for the evil He sent to others by us for their good, not that we can justify ourselves. We seek to do good as we learn. But we must also learn that even our mistakes and evils have served in their place for the time and though these things are to be repented of, they are also to be recognized as purposeful and to be forgotten in the sense of continual regret. And how fretful we are when we find certain circumstances and events are entirely in disagreement to us and beyond our control. But if we know the Lord, and if we know that He is in full control of all and that all He does is for our good, we can indeed forgive, forget and rest. The wisdom of God is unsearchable, His ways past finding out; His thoughts and His actions high above ours, we don’t know what He’s about. Moses He sends to save Israel and Pharaoh’s heart He hardens, And both are found faithful in doing His bidding, both b...
Not His ways so much as Him! Yet “theologians” or “studiers of God” presume otherwise. And how ingrained it is in our very carnal natures the thought or belief that somehow we are in control to some extent of our destinies and the destinies of others. How frustrated we get at our failures and at the failures of others when we do not understand that all things, great and small, good and evil, obviously and otherwise are indeed in His hands, that He rules over all. How unforgiving we can be toward others for the evil the Lord has sent our way by them for our good, and toward ourselves for the evil He sent to others by us for their good, not that we can justify ourselves. We seek to do good as we learn. But we must also learn that even our mistakes and evils have served in their place for the time and though these things are to be repented of, they are also to be recognized as purposeful and to be forgotten in the sense of continual regret. And how fretful we are when we find certain circumstances and events are entirely in disagreement to us and beyond our control. But if we know the Lord, and if we know that He is in full control of all and that all He does is for our good, we can indeed forgive, forget and rest. The wisdom of God is unsearchable, His ways past finding out; His thoughts and His actions high above ours, we don’t know what He’s about. Moses He sends to save Israel and Pharaoh’s heart He hardens, And both are found faithful in doing His bidding, both b...